At Gillette Stadium, however, it can be reported that it was business as usual on Sunday afternoon.

Or, perhaps more accurately, business the way it used to be.

“It’s good to be back in the playoffs,” Patriots center Dan Koppen said after his team had ended a one-year absence from postseason play by wrapping up another AFC East division championship with a 35-7 rout of the Jacksonville Jaguars. “We have some more work to do, but that’s one of our goals coming into the season and accomplishing it is a really good feeling.”

On this day, the good times rolled in Foxboro.

With his team in absolute command in the fourth quarter, Randy Moss jokingly went back and forth with a fan shown on the stadium’s JumboTron wearing a Moss mask and doing the wide receiver’s trademark “separation pose.”

The fan in the stands gyrated. Moss gyrated on the sideline.

Back to the fan. Back to Moss.

What a difference a home game makes.

During his last appearance in Foxboro, the Patriots’ 20-10 victory over Carolina, Moss barely showed signs of a pulse.

This home game, he played the part of standup comic. Make that, sideline comic.

Three touchdown receptions will do that to a guy.

“It was entertaining,” Moss said of his give-and-take with the masked fan. “You know, I had a lot of my teammates wanting me to mess with the guy.

“He put a little humor into it and I enjoyed it, man. That’s the thing about having fun. When things go right, you get the fans into the game, you get the players in the game. So it was a stadium full of fun, and I think we all enjoyed it.”

This truly was a laugher in every sense of the word.

Days before we’ll flip the calendar ahead to 2010, the Patriots turned back the clock.

For one day, anyway, it was 2007 all over again at Gillette. This one was that easy.

The result was a return to supremacy in the AFC East, the team claiming its seventh division championship in Bill Belichick’s decade at the helm.

It was a return to the old hat and T-shirt days at Gillette, the Patriots getting those clothing items to commemorate their latest division title.

Old hat?

Not to 32-year-old Sammy Morris.

“That’s the biggest part,” said the veteran running back, who contributed 12 carries for 95 yards and one touchdown to Sunday’s cause. “Regardless of stats, regardless of everything, getting the hat and T-shirt is what we’re out here for.”

Page 2 of 2 - On this day, even the tight ends (remember them?) came dressed to thrill.

Chris Baker and Benjamin Watson combined to catch three passes for 46 yards, the former’s contributions including a 26-yard touchdown reception on the first play of the second quarter.

“I was telling a couple of the guys that this is my second AFC East title,” said Baker, the ex-New York Jet. “I won all the way back in 2002, my rookie year. So I’ve been in the league a long time and this is the first step where we want to go, but this is a big step for us.”

Never mind the title.

To Morris, the performance was big, if not a sign of things to come, at least a sign of things that could come.

“It’s big for us,” Morris said. “I think we all know what we’re capable of. To kind of see that come to fruition is big for us. Obviously, I think it’s a big game for us, to be that balanced.”

It truly was a balanced effort, the Patriots’ finest hour since the 59-point beating they hung on a winless (at the time) Tennessee team more than two months ago.

Offensively, quarterback Tom Brady posted a passer rating that approached perfection, his 149.0 the product of a 23-for-26 performance for 267 yards and four TDs with no interceptions.

Morris’ 95 yards led a ground attack that churned out 197 yards on 36 attempts, a hefty 5.5-yard average.

Defensively, safety Brandon Meriweather and cornerback Shawn Springs contributed interceptions, the former returning his 56 yards to set up Baker’s second-quarter score, the latter coming at the New England 2 to halt a third-quarter Jacksonville drive that could have made it 28-7 at the time.

Fourth-and-two in the fourth quarter with the team clinging to a six-point lead at one’s own 28?

Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio opted to attempt to convert a fourth-and-1 from his own 35 with no score in the first quarter; enter safety James Sanders, who took Maurice Jones-Drew down at the line of scrimmage, setting up the first TD of the day.

“In this environment, for what was on the line, it was a good time to have it clicking on both sides,” linebacker Adalius Thomas said when it was over.

“It’s very significant (to wrap up the division). It’s one of your goals that you set out to do. When you can do that, a lot of teams are going home. That playoff picture, the wild card thing I can’t figure it out. So it’s a lot easier when you control your own destiny and when you win the division and know you’re going to the playoffs, it feels good.”